PHILADELPHIA — Hundreds of people have gathered in Philadelphia to protest rapper Meek Mill's imprisonment on probation violations.

Celebrities and athletes spoke at the rally Monday evening near City Hall, including former 76er Julius Erving, Eagles player Malcolm Jenkins and rapper Rick Ross. Erving called Mill's sentence "excessive" and "cruel."

Mill was sentenced to two to four years in prison last week for violating probation in a nearly decade-old gun and drug case.

The prosecutor called for no prison time, but Common Pleas Judge Genece Brinkley said during the sentencing hearing that the 30-year-old musician had wasted several chances to clean up his act.